It’s been a big year for Instagram. With two major releases within six months, Instagram’s larger goal for Guides is to create a space for longer-form content.
Content creators use Guides to share advice, tips and recommendations to their followers.
When creating your first Instagram Guide, you can use a variety of photos, carousels, and videos with long descriptions. In addition to using your existing posts, you can promote products from Instagram Shops or even select posts tagged in specific locations.
Brands, on the other hand, use Guides as an important element to their IG content strategy. Here are some examples:
1. Supporting small businesses and holiday marketing
When it comes to the holiday season, shoppers are using social media more often to find the best deals. Brands and businesses are using Guides to provide their shoppers a catalogue for holiday gifting ideas, their best-sellers, DIY hacks, and much more.
Better yet, businesses are helping other small businesses during the holidays by recommending their products through Instagram Guides. The best example - Beats by Dre.
Beats by Dre
What better way to promote small businesses on Small Business Saturdays. Not only does Beats by Dres highlight their products, they also share their success stories and promote their Instagram accounts. (Link to guide)
Gymshark
Now, check out how Gymshark promotes their Black Friday Sales with influencer posts. Gymshark’s Instagram feed is filled with collaborations with famous influencers from fitness industry such as @brittnebabe and @willtenny.
In a simple Guide, they didn't even use their own post content - they promoted the influencers’ collaboration posts instead.
The Honest Company
The classic holiday gifting guide. The Honest Company is known for their holiday baskets, and why not put them all in one Guide?
Prada
Even though the descriptions in Instagram Guides are optional, Prada’s marketers made the best out of their descriptions. They created a very brand-focused holiday gifting guide with previous posts.
Right underneath each post is a price listing of the product from their Instagram Shop.
2. Keep It on Brand
Get creative with your brand. Reflect on your Instagram content strategy and find what kind of content your followers love. Sometimes, it can be the brand itself.
Red Bull
Why show a bunch of Red Bulls when you can show different ways to drink a Red Bull? (Link to guide)
Condé Nast Traveller
No more Google searching “the cheapest place to travel.” People can easily go onto Condé Nast Traveller’s Instagram and read a Guide on the best travel recommendations.
3. Reveal Skincare Secrets
Instagram Guides can take beauty and skincare content to a whole new level. Users will follow beauty gurus and shops that have content on video breakdowns of skincare ingredients, DIYs with ASMR, or trending natural products.
Now when it comes to skin care DIYs, and treat-yourself hacks, Lush knows how to get Instagram Guides right.
Lush
Out of their ten Guides, the most unique and interesting Guide is Your Guide To Cruelty‑Free Shopping. Lush gave their followers a step-by-step guide on how to read labels and spot sketchy ingredients.
4. Share Your Home Living Hacks
Instagram Guides have become extremely popular in the home living industry, giving brands the opportunity to create magazine-style content.
West Elm
If you’re looking for home inspiration, follow West Elm on Instagram. They’re known for their stylish modern living and designs.
When in doubt, simplicity in content will always work. Guides can be as simple as showing table decoration examples.
Made.com
Home living is all about trends. One season, there was a huge craze over statement rugs, then another season it was classic floral prints.
Made.com uses Instagram Guides to keep their followers up-to-date about the latest trends in the modern home living industry.
5. Classic Cooking Guides
Think of the best comfort foods or the secret recipe for a perfect macaron. Food Instagrammers now have an easier way to promote their recipes with Instagram Guides and their followers can access them anytime they want. You can always reuse evergreen content by repromoting in Stories or in posts.
Tasty by Buzzfeed
Video content is on the rise and most brands are using Instagram Reels to engage with their followers. And everyone knows about Tasty’s mouth-watering Instagram video content - see how Tasty put their best video recipes in Guides.
Williams Sonoma
You can even showcase cookbooks. See how William Sonoma promoted Ina Garten’s book and her favorite kitchen items.
6. Parenting Guides
Every parent needs help - whether it’s a family member, friend, book, or class. Now, there’s a lot of information, advice, and communities on Instagram new parents can follow. With Instagram Guides, parents can now access helpful Guides from their favorite parenting and family Instagram accounts.
Parents
Parents is an online magazine for all moms and dads to help them navigate through parenthood. With over 700k followers, parents can read guides from anti-bullying to tips for everyday parenting.
7. Highlight Your Best Reviews
Add another element to your social media content strategy and showcase your product reviews in an Instagram Guide.
IGN
IGN is an American video game and entertainment media website that has become a reliable source for all gamers. In this guide, IGN shows their rating for each of the newest games this year.
8. Promote entrepreneurs and companies
Now, let’s move into the thought leadership style of content. Instagram Guides can be a great way for companies to promote marketers, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders.
Foundr
Foundr has a very strong brand message that inspires young entrepreneurs around the world. With motivational quotes and career advice from famous entrepreneurs such as Oprah Winfrey and Mark Cuban, Foundr has created a Guide to show the top quotes from the greatest entrepreneurs of all time.
Hubspot
Learning how to thrive in the “new normal” is something that most career-driven and hard-working individuals need to read - and Hubspot hits it home.
More importantly, they highlight the importance of creating a diverse team and states “In the new normal, diversity isn’t just desired, but required.”
The takeaway
Instagram is always evolving, and the company will continue to look for new ways to help users create more content. First, for a successful Instagram marketing strategy, it’s best to always stay up-to-date with the latest Instagram trends.
Don’t forget, Instagram Guides are very easy to create. Open up the app and give it a try! If you need help, check out this blog and learn everything you need to know about Instagram Guides.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on socialbakers.com. Any statistics or statements included in this article were current at the time of original publication.
